Knicks 'nearing deal for Nets' Mikal Bridges': New York rivals 'agree to swap' that reunites ex-Villanova star with Wildcats Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo... but at a HEFTY price!
- The Nets will reportedly get five first-round picks and a future pick swap
- Bridges is reuniting with four of his former Villanova Wildcat teammates at MSG
- This is the first Nets-Knicks trade since the Len Elmore deal of 1983
The NBA offseason kicked into full gear on Tuesday night with a report that the Brooklyn Nets have agreed to trade star forward Mikal Bridges across the East River to the rival New York Knicks.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the Knicks will send four of their own unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027, 2029, 2031) to the Nets, as well as a 2025 protected Milwaukee Bucks first-round pick, a 2028 unprotected pick swap and a 2025 second-round pick. Finally, the Nets will reacquire Bojan Bogdanovic, the veteran Croatian forward who began his NBA career in Brooklyn back in 2014.
The trade reunites Bridges with former Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo. The Wildcat quartet won the school’s second national championships together under coach Jay Wright in 2016. Brunson, DiVincenzo and Bridges won another national title together in 2018 after Hart had turned pro.
Bridges reacted to the news on X: 'This is crazy lol.'
The four former Wildcats spoke in a group video call after the deal and Hart later shared a screengrab on X.
Mikal Bridges smiles at ex-Villanova teammate Josh Hart after a Nets-Knicks game in March
Hart (bottom right) shared a grab from a group video call with his former Villanova teammates: Mikal Bridges (bottom left), Donte DiVincenzo (upper right) and Jalen Brunson (upper left)
Bridges grabs a rebound in front of Villanova teammates Donte DiVincenzo (left) and Jalen Brunson (right) in 2018. The three will now be reunited with the New York Knicks
Neither Nets nor Knicks spokespeople have responded to DailyMail.com’s requests for confirmation.
Bridges had previously been considered untouchable by the Nets, according to various reports.
After averaging 19.6 points a game for the struggling Nets, Bridges now joins a Knicks team that reached the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2024.
Bridges was a first-round pick out of Villanova in 2018 by his hometown Philadelphia 76ers, who happened to employ his mother at the time.
But in a cruel twist of fate, Bridges was instead traded in a draft-night deal to the Suns and played his first four-plus seasons in Phoenix before being acquired by Brooklyn in the trade for Kevin Durant.
Bridges is owed around $48 million over the final two years of his contract.
New York was already being called the 'Nova Knicks' before acquiring Bridges, an ex-Wildcat
The agreement appears to mean the end of OG Anunoby’s brief tenure in New York after his reported decision to opt out of his contract and test the free-agent market. ESPN is reporting that the Knicks still hope to re-sign the defensive stopper, but that could make it difficult to re-sign center Isaiah Hartenstein.
The Knicks acquired Anunoby from Toronto before the 2024 trade deadline, but he battled injuries over just 23 games with New York, while making only 9 of 13 postseason appearances.
The reported trade would be the first deal between the Knicks and Nets since Len Elmore was sent from New Jersey to New York for a second-round pick in 1983.
Remarkably, the Nets acquired even more draft picks on Tuesday night.
In a separate deal, which has been finalized, Brooklyn GM Sean Marks re-acquired the team's own 2025 and 2026 first-round picks from the Houston Rockets, negating an earlier trade. The Rockets, meanwhile, get a first-round pick swap in 2025 and the Phoenix Suns' first-round pick in 2029, which the Nets had acquired in the deal that sent Durant to the Suns.
Houston also receives the two 'most favorable' of Dallas, Houston and Phoenix's first-round picks in 2019, according to the Nets.
